At the end of the day Dipper made his way to the back entrance to the school. Mabel was going to meet him there.
"Um! Dipper!"
He stopped and looked around, spotting a short girl with black bobbed hair with blue and pink streaks running through it. He smiled and waved as she ran up to him.
"Are you feeling better?"
The girl nodded. While trying to avoid Kristian, Dipper had taken the long way to class through the freshman hallway. There he'd run into two girls, one of them had been crying and nearly curled up on the floor. He had stopped and helped her get to the nurse and had stayed with her until they could get her mom on the phone.
"It was just nerves," she said, laughing nervously, "a really bad case of nerves."
"I've been there before," Dipper nodded, remembering the time he'd first met Grunkle Ford.
"I just wanted to-"
"YO! DIPPINGSAUSE!" Mabel ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, having to stand on tip-toe to do so. "What's taking you so long!? Home is THAT way!"
Dipper detached his sister, "Mabel, this is Sarah, Sarah, this is my sister Mabel."
"Sister?" the girl smiled, "I see."
Mabel pursed her lips.
"I met her this morning," Dipper explained, "she's pretty cool."
Mabel watched Sarah blush.
"Uh-huh," Mabel looked from her oblivious brother to the other girl.
"I just," Sarah stammered, "I just wanted to thank you for helping me today. You really didn't have to, but I'm really grateful that you did!"
"Ah," Mabel got it.
"If you need anything else, my locker is in the second floor science hallway," Dipper said, "come find me anytime."
Mabel closed her eyes as Sarah beamed and blushed harder.
"Alright," Mabel cut in grabbing Dippers arm possessively, "Well, see you around, Sarah, but home awaits us!"
Dipper scowled as Mabel lead him away down the hall and towards the door.
"What's up?" he asked, "I thought you'd jump at the chance of making a new friend."
"Maybe another day," Mabel said, "right now I need a report. I kept my ears wide open today and was not disappointed. I heard Kristian got owned?"
Dipper grinned, "yeah. He tried to shove me. Grunkle Stan and Mimi have been teaching me to stand my ground all summer. He didn't stand a chance."
Mabel stopped walking, "I didn't hear that part…I meant the flirting comment. That's all Carol talked about in English class."
"Oh, yeah, he wouldn't shut up while the teacher was talking so-"
"He shoved you?"
"Tried, Mabel, he tried to. He-"
"I'll kill him."
Dipper sighed, "Drop it. I won. Its over. I can handle it form here."
Mabel pulled a face, "won't stop me."
Dipper laughed and put his arm around her, "Thanks sis."
()
The next day was a "first day of school" all over again with four new classes. Dipper attended his classes and organized a working schedule so he could complete all the homework. What possessed him to take so many stupid AP classes?! Why did the school allow him to?!
He chose to ditch the idea of joining a club.
The classes were uneventful until he reached the fourth one.
Weight lifting.
He entered the locker room to football and basket ball players. Even some track players were there.
"What's the dweeb doing here?"
Dipper smiled, nodded, and went to his assigned locker.
"Hey, just because you take this class doesn't mean you actually know what you're doing," someone said walking up to Dipper, "this isn't something you learn from a book."
"Thank you for the warning," Dipper replied, "but I think I understand."
He'd been working out with minatours for most of the summer; he'd better know he was doing.
"No, really," the other kid said, "you could really hurt yourself if-"
Dipper took off his shirt and reached in his back for his gym shirt. He then paused and looked up. The other guys were staring.
"What?" Dipper looked down at himself. Was there something strange?
"Never mind," the guy shrugged, "I'll spot you if you like."
Still confused Dipper said, "thanks."
()
It took only one week.
One week for the news to spread through out the Junior class that Dipper, the book worm/nerd/noodle boy, actually had muscle. The other guys in the weight lifting class had developed a respect for him. Dipper knew his limits and didn't take risks. They still saw him as an awkward book nerd, but now when they saw him in the hallway they said hi or punched him lightly on the shoulder.
Dipper was enjoying his new found prospective for friends.
However, he found he couldn't really enjoy it. Not only was he sure Kristian would come up with a counter move, but things in Piedmont were…stranger, than usual.
Walking home from school Dipper was sure he saw a giant tree with a face in the park. But when he blinked, it was gone.
Occasionally he'd see fairies or pixies chilling on street lamps or on parked cars. But they, too, would just vanish if he looked away for a second. At school he thought his teacher had turned into a Goblin-troll, but when he rubbed his eyes the image broke and it went back to normal.
He wasn't completely sure what was going on, so he kept note of all the instances in a separate journal. Maybe he could find a correlation…
But he had promised Mabel 'no secrets', so on the way home from school one day he suddenly grabbed Mabels arm.
"Look over there!" He snapped keeping his eyes on the fairy sitting on top of a bird house. She was just chilling, kicking her feet and enjoying the day.
"Yeah, that's a bird house…" Mabel said raising an eye brow at him, "what about it?"
"You don't see the fairy there?"
Mabel turned again and squinted at it, "no…no I don't."
And that confirmed Dippers worst fears.
"Dipper, do you see a fairy?"
"I think…I think I've been hallucinating…"
"Since when?"
"Since we got back? …I don't know. The things I see aren't out of place in Gravity Falls, so maybe I was hallucinating before we got back and I just didn't notice because its normal there!?"
Dipper was starting to freak out, so Mabel put a hand on his shoulder, "ok, ok…we'll call the grunkles when we get home. Mom has her book club tonight so we'll have the house to ourselves."
"I'm…I'm going crazy…"
"Well, let's just hope it stops at magical creatures, those aren't so bad. And you've done really well so far!"
"…you mean it can get worse?"
Mabel bit her lip. Her lessons with Fenrik were…very informative about the mind and its relationship with reality and the physical brain. He had started her lessons with the history of the laws related to mental privacy and just how messed up she could make a person if she didn't know what she was doing. The night before had been about normal mental illnesses and how, although not magical, could be caused by her if she tried.
"not necessarily," she said, "we have to find the cause first. From there we might find a solution."
"Just when I thought things would be ok…"
Mabel linked arms with Dipper as they walked the rest of the way home.
()
Dipper and Mabel sat at the table to do their homework. When Mabel had a question, she'd poke her brother with a pencil and point. Their mother was in the kitchen, the music on, and was fixing up an early dinner.
"Just leave it in the oven and eat it when you guys get hungry. I've got a feeling this book is going to cause a few hours of…heated discussion…."
"Stay safe," they chorused as their mom picked up her keys.
"You know I don't loose in these kinds of battles," she winked and left the house.
()
"Hallucinating?"
"Yeah," Dipper sighed as he and Mabel both talked to the phone on speaker, "been going on for a few weeks….that I've noticed…"
"you know, I wish I had the ingredients to that drug, then maybe I'd be able to figure out how it was supposed to work."
"Berries," Mabel said, "there was also a root of some kind. And a blue liquid."
"…what?"
"I went into Ryans mind and saw him making the drug. I didn't pay much attention, but I do remember some of the things that were on the table."
Dipper laughed, "that's awesome."
"A root?" Ford went silent for a while, "Dipper, you said there was a ringing in your head. Was it like a bell or-"
"Not a ringing," Dipper interjected, "a buzzing. Like white noise."
"It was a drug that effected every magical creature, so it must be a horrific concoction. We suspected side effects…how bad are they? Do they interact with you?"
"No," Dipper leaned back, "I just see them then they disappear."
"Well…let me do some research. You said you were writing everything down? Good, keep doing that. Be as specific as you can. Let's see if we can't reverse the effect."
"So you really think it might be the drug?"
"….what else could it be?"
Dipper shifted, "…maybe it's a side effect for being a human and still using magic?"
"That….i hadn't thought of that…But then wouldn't Mabel be seeing things too?"
"My whole power revolves around the mind, grunkle Ford, which means my mind knows better than to mess with me."
"….well, ok, we'll take that into consideration then."
()
Kristian watched his mom get ready for her book club.
"mom?"
"Yes?"
"you're friends with Mrs. Pines, right?"
She smiled, looking up from putting her shoes on, "we often fall on the same side of the arguments that occur. She's also the one who gave me that wonderful banana bread recipe. So, yes, I consider her a friend."
"Where did she say the twins went this last summer?"
"Oh…that was a while ago…let me think," she frowned, "I think it was some where in Oregon. Apparently they have family up there; an uncle or something. Cassy said the twins absolutely loved going up there. Why do you ask?"
"Mason has been acting really weird this year," he shrugged, "I was just a little worried."
She smiled, stood, and kissed the top of his head, "I'm sure its ok. Just be his friend like always."
"I plan to."
()
Mabel snuggled down in the fluffy blow up chair in her mental study room. It was full to the brim with stuffed animals and glitter. The first time Fenrik had seen it, he'd let out a little groan. That had made it all worth it.
Like every night, she waited for Fenrik to request permission to enter her room. It was a light pressure on the back of her mind letting her know he was there.
When he arrived, and before he could start the nights lecture, Mabel asked, "can people just spontaneously start hallucinating?"
Fenrik curled up against a wall of plushies, "spontaneously? No. Can an event or circumstance trigger a chemical imbalance to occur? Yes. Can someone be cursed or magicked into having hallucinations? Yes. Why?"
Mabel told her what had happened with Dipper, "I'm just worried. Is there a way I can enter his mind and figure out what's wrong? I know you said its not ok to intrude and privacy and what not, but if I can find out what's wrong, then I can help!"
Fenriks tail thumped against the floor as he thought, "if you have permission from your brother, I don't see anything wrong with it. But I don't believe you have the skills to do this yet. So far you can enter the memory part of the mind, but little else. If you enter his mindspace, then I'm not sure you will find anything relevant or useful."
Mabel sunk lower in her chair, "just a thought…"
"It wasn't a bad thought," Fenrik replied, "and it shows you've been paying attention, which I appreciate. But right now, the focus is expanding your powers and knowledge. Because the mind is an open source, the more knowledge you have, the more you will be able to use and accomplish."
"Yeah, yeah," Mabel screwed up her face, "I spend all day in school and then I have night school. Its just not fair! Dipper would love to do all this! Why couldn't he have the mind powers and I have the fire powers?!"
Fenrik didn't respond right away, but he took the question seriously.
"Because where your brother was scarred by his interaction with the demon, you decided to learn from it."
"where's Blendin when I need him," Mabel muttered darkly.
"…it could be that they aren't hallucinations," Fenrik said, after watching Mabel go deeper and deeper into her bad mood.
She lifted her head, "What do you mean?"
"The area around Gravity Falls has always been a place of…strength, for our kind. For some reason, humans just notice us a bit more and the further they live from the Falls, the less humans notice us. It could be that your brother simply can see the creatures in the area that were always there, but don't have the power to show themselves."
"mmmm," Mabel shook her head, "he said a teacher turned into a goblin-troll…"
"It could be a mixture?"
"Why are you complicating this?"
"Why are you insisting it should be one or the other?" Mabel let out a disgruntled noise, Fenrik continued, "situations are hardly so clean cut. You want a solvable problem. We all do. But a look at the big picture is hardly going to be a simple matter."
"Aaahhhggg," Mabel kicked her feet out in front of her, "I'm so done! I just want my brother to be happy! I want to grow up and buy another pig so Waddles isn't lonely! I want to visit Gravity Falls without thinking that every time we go, we almost die! I want all the weirdness to STAY in Gravity Falls!"
"there is a saying that no matter how many points of view there are, there's always one more, and that's the truth."
"Are you listening to me?" Mabel asked, but Fenrik ignored her.
"Get in the habit of looking at every angle of a situation. Even the most ridiculous ideas can come in handy as you try to understand what is going on. Then, when you have every angle, even the most silly ones, then you can start looking for the truth, because it wont be any of those angles."
"…." Mabel took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "and how does that help me?"
"This is my lesson for the night," he replied, "I thought I should start the lesson before you went too far off on a tangent."